Gulfsands Petroleum plc, the oil and gas production, exploration and development company with activities in the U.S.A., Syria and Iraq has executed a formal contract for a drilling rig to be used for drilling the next exploration well on Block 26, Syria in February 2007.

Rig Contract Executed -- Khurbet East Exploration Well

Gulfsands, the operator and 50% working interest owner in Block 26, Syria, has executed a formal contract with Crosco, a drilling company based in Croatia, for the Crosco 602 rig, a 2,000 horsepower drilling rig to be used for drilling one exploration well scheduled to commence by mid February of this year. The Crosco 602 rig will be utilized to drill the Khurbet East exploration prospect ("KHE 1") and has now been mobilized to the drill site.

KHE 1 is a fault-bound structural culmination, with closure mapped at multiple potential reservoir levels. These include reservoirs of Cretaceous, Triassic and Palaeozoic age. The well is located approximately 12 kilometers southwest of the Souedieh Oil Field and 12 kilometers south of the Rumailan Oil Field, in the northeastern portion of Block 26. The total drilling depth of the KHE 1 well is expected to be approximately 3,700 meters and require approximately 90 -- 100 days to drill and evaluate.

Tigris-1 Update

The Tigris-1 exploration well is currently drilling ahead at a depth of 4,391 metres to a planned total depth as previously announced of approximately 4,500 metres.

Following the drilling of the KHE 1 well the Company is planning to drill its fourth commitment well on Block 26 once the rig currently drilling the Tigris-1 well is returned to Gulfsands around July 2007.

Gulfsands' CEO, John Dorrier, said:

"We are very pleased to have reached agreement with Crosco for the use of the 602 rig in a market which is increasingly tight for equipment of this size and capability. With the anticipated return of the current rig later in the first half of the year, we can now look forward to being able to undertake a nearly continuous drill programme on Block 26 during 2007."